Cricket desperately needs its characters

But sometimes keeping things in house has to take precedence over honest opinions. I mean how much of a moron does shame Warne sound like every time he rants nonsense about Steve Waugh?

And instead of getting someone's honest assessment and perhaps a bit of character shine through, we get the standard party line. And the world is a slightly less interesting place.

The original idea of media training for athletes was quite sound. I believe it began in the 1990s, roughly, and Bob Simpson, then Australian coach, explained it in his 1996 book ‘The Reasons Why’: ‘… a young Glenn McGrath comes into the side, and a journalist corners him with an inflammatory question along the lines of “The belief with the public is that Bob Simpson is an autocrat who undermines the captain’s status within the team … would you say this is the case?”. How does a young athlete respond appropriately to being blind sided in such a manner, irrespective of what his feelings on the matter are? …’ (or words to that effect)

Happy to hear that term whenever you want.

I couldn't agree more.

That sounds stressful Bernie. I reckon the kids would know the limits of your constraints and also exactly which buttons to push to stir you up. .. I couldn't be a teacher. I wouldn't be able to hold my tongue. I doff my cap to you sir.

"there is no room for tolerance in the tolerance movement". That's a very succinct summation of the problem I2I. In fact I love it. I better warn you now I'm probably gonna pinch that line. .. Using the stump mic's to stir up trouble is indicative of the way things are going generally. Privacy is almost a thing of the past. It's the brave new world I'm afraid.

Spot on DB. Not just social media though, host broadcaster now playing up the tourists barbs in stump mics, has them vilified and convicted before they get to drinks as well. How many shots taken on field back in the day made thousands for both parties on the speaking circuit a decade later. The story changed the animosity dissipated and the players were the only ones who knew exactly what happened or was said. But that was fine, because they were over it and mates having a laugh about it, their prerogative. Now it's a cultural incident and brought up as a warning to others that there is no room for tolerance in the tolerance movement.

It's been media trained out of them, hasn't it Paul? Contractual robots.

great read Paul. I think every sports need some characters. Was late in the reading the article. Bit busy watching EPL games.

Funnily enough, both Doug Walters and Sir Garfield made centuries (Walters was a double ton) after all night drinking sessions, and as we all know Dougie was one of Australia's greatest cricketing characters. As long as what they are doing off the field is not destructive or detrimental to themselves, others, or to the sport, and they don't let their private carrying ons interfere with their performance on the field, why should it matter?

Yep thats all fair enough. I did read your initial comment missing the "saturday" so thats my bad. Understand the problem with teaching (first hand) in either teaching the party line, or being an individual. And I guess it always comes down to which party it is in charge at the time. If its your mob in charge, and you are teaching thus, then its fine, if not you are a rebel. Its a tricky situation.

LOL Dexter The Hamster ... no not at all. While the emphasis with us teachers is not so much about not being allowed to be 'characters', but rather we are not allowed to be individuals ... we are forced to be generic robots tottering out the modern cliché lines, one size fits all, that are supposed to be the revolutionary contemporary means for learned better behaviour among modern kids/teenagers, but in fact does anything but a large percentage of the time. It’s complicated to explain, but it’s a similar problem to the robotic expectations of modern sports stars expressed in this article.

Personally I couldn’t care less if Pat Cummins is out getting a kebab at 2am in the morning. As long as he performs on the field what difference does it make? Do you honestly believe that Lillee and Marsh never hit the piss 2 days before a test match? I’ve seen an interview where Thommo talks about having a couple of rum and cokes before the days play had even finished. Didn’t seem to affect their performance to much. What’s the difference? The only difference I can see is the increased prevalence of social media and increased sense of entitlement from the fans.

Here we go. The Warnie fans are up and about..... "Highly paid athlete" means you are paid to deliver at your best, all the time. Comparing them to "just like everyone else" is rather naive. What if we saw Pat Cummins out in Caxton St, grabbing a kebab at 2 in the morning, 2 days before the first Ashes Test? Why can't he, "just like everyone else??? Come on. Has nothing to do with being a character, and everything to do with being a professional. Nothing to do with passing judgement either. But is it unreasonable to expect out top line sportspeople to be at their best? I'm guessing you are a smoker Marty, and good luck to you, no judgement here. To claim Warne as the greatest bowler of all time is very debatable. The stats show that isn't the case, and personally I feel McGrath was more instrumental in Aussie wins than Warne was.

Unless it’s affecting their performance I’m not really sure what the relevance of them being ‘highly paid athletes’ is. Warnie loved the durries and he’s the greatest bowler the world has ever seen. Didn’t seem to affect him too much. Im not suggesting that players should be rolling up to press conferences and coaching clinics with a smoke hanging out of their mouth but if they want to have one while they’re down the pub why shouldn’t they be able to, just like anyone else can? It seems to me these day’s the term ‘role model’ is code for ‘I reserve the right to pass judgement on you for doing something I don’t approve of’.

Media training has a lot to answer for in sporting clubs.

Still one of the great nicknames.

I don't know Rellum. Had a similar chat back at the start of last summer with some lads at the Gabba (Aussies smashing Pakistan so plenty of time for reflection). The consensus was that we miss the characters. I take your point of the media tearing them down when they say something outlandish. That needs to stop. But we the public, want our cricketers to show a bit.

I did enjoy the JL piece on The Test where he was very direct, banter is OK, abuse isn't. I often wonder why that wasn't stated more often in the past.